


Stages of Friendship (Or "Started from the bottom and now we're here", the fanfic)

by mamawerewolf



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Friendship, Gen, Minor Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 22:28:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6629539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamawerewolf/pseuds/mamawerewolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clary met Alec through his sister, who she met through Simon. Alec was the tag-a-long pseudo-chaperone to Jace and Izzy’s first clubbing experience, mainly because a) he didn’t drink and b) if you looked in a dictionary next to the phrase “buzz kill” there would be a picture of his face. Clary and Simon were taking Maureen out on the town to celebrate her getting into her dream college. Simon invited Izzy, who invited Jace, who roped Alec into going. The rest, they say, is history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stages of Friendship (Or "Started from the bottom and now we're here", the fanfic)

**Author's Note:**

> based on this tumblr post: http://freshprinceprs.tumblr.com/post/102710791960

Clary met Alec through his sister, who she met through Simon. Alec was the tag-a-long pseudo-chaperone to Jace and Izzy’s first clubbing experience, mainly because a) he didn’t drink and b) if you looked in a dictionary next to the phrase “buzz kill” there would be a picture of his face. Clary and Simon were taking Maureen out on the town to celebrate her getting into her dream college. Simon invited Izzy, who invited Jace, who roped Alec into going. The rest, they say, is history.

 

_stage 1 of friendship: what’s up ily so much!_

Clary was the emoji friend. Alec’s name wasn’t paired in her phone with a last name; instead, there was a little happy smiley face. It didn’t stay there for long.

‘hey hey whats up?’

‘I’m training. You need something?’

“Hey, Simon,” Clary called, looking upside down off the arm of the couch. Simon was doing laundry. He did more chores at Clary’s house than Clary did. “You ever see anyone younger than 30 use proper punctuation in a text?”

“Ew.” Simon scrunched his face. “I told you this guy was a stick in the mud.”

“Just because Izzy says something doesn’t mean it’s true.” Izzy believed in jinxing people while playing pool and was deathly terrified of black cats, but laughed at the concept of ghosts or aliens. Honestly.

Simon dropped a basket of clean clothes in front of the couch and sighed. “Look, I know you like the couch but I do in fact need room to fold. And besides, Alec only took your number because he knew it would make Izzy happy.”

He was mostly right, but he hadn’t been there when Alec and Clary snuck out of the crowded club and went for coffee. Clary had expected him to order his black, but he surprised her.

“A triple shot white mocha doesn’t come from a stick-in-the-mud. People and coffee are directly correlated, Simon. It’s a universal truth. And he’s funny and loves his family and doesn’t have any friends.”

Simon, tired of waiting for Clary to move, started folding clothes and setting them on Clary’s legs. “And you’re determined to be the first.”

It wasn’t a question but Clary nodded, smiling. “I knew you’d understand.”

 

_stage 2 of friendship: oh god i hope i’m not being too clingy or bothering them_

All Alec ever seemed to do was train, study, and coach his siblings. His answers stayed bland and cut-and-dry. The texting relationship became a slow drip of stilted conversation starters met with serious replies and Clary was officially discouraged.

Jace, however, was an avid texter with impeccable taste and loved making plans with people.

“He’s not exactly the texting type, Clary.” Jace held up a movie. Clary shook her head, and he picked up another. “It’s just not his thing.”

“I get that, but he’s always busy. Doesn’t he ever-?”

Jace laughed, grabbing “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and “RED” and tossing them in the grocery basket. “Relax? Nope. Izzy likes to say that he has a switch that’s always on.”

Jace had never really had friends outside of the Lightwoods, who were basically siblings, so he said they didn’t count. He and Simon were a work in progress but he and Clary connected instantly. Clary liked to think that they were insta-besties, but she didn’t want to assume.

Speaking of assuming…

“What’s taking you two so long?” Alec, dressed as ever in boring greys and blacks, sounded bored. “Izzy and I already picked out all the snacks.”

Jace opened his mouth to answer, but Clary cut in, “We couldn’t decide between light-hearted and action-packed, so we got one of both.”

“It took fifteen minutes to decide to compromise? You two are something else.” Alec turned and walked away, clearly expecting them to follow behind. Jace, of course, did; the two were often in sync, as if they thought on the same wavelength. Of course, when the two argued over which way was the fastest to get home, the illusion dispersed.

After the first movie, Izzy ran downstairs to let Simon in, who had been recording with Maureen and his new manager, Raphael, and Jace went to get more popcorn.

“So, what’d you think?” Clary couldn’t tell what Alec thought of the cartoon based on his reactions because he didn’t really have many. Alec was quiet and firm, and often sounded irritated, though Jace and Izzy claimed he really wasn’t.

Alec shrugged. “It was alright. I liked the book better.”

“You read the book?”

“Yeah. Why do you sound surprised?” Alec’s eyes were almost accusing, but his face was in its usual vaguely bored expression.

It set in then that Clary didn’t really know if Alec liked her at all.

“I-I don’t know, I just-“

“Hey!” Simon and Izzy were back, and Clary got distracted. (Not that Izzy was distracting, with her eyes and her lips and her legs and—Clary might have had a teensy tiny crush on Isabelle. Just a small one.)

 

_stage 3 of friendship: hey dickhead fucking answer me_

Clary didn’t linger in the zone of uncertainty. It was clear pretty quickly that the best way to become friends with any of the Lightwoods is to just be around. Isabelle was an easy excuse, and so was Jace, depending on who she really wanted to hang out with. If any of them were busy, she could ask another one when they were free. And as guilty as she felt using one sibling to get to another, to be fair, she did ask Alec what kind of CDs Jace had in his big black case in his room (and honestly, who still has CDs these days?) to get him something he didn’t have for his birthday. And she asked Alec’s advice on what to buy Izzy for Valentine’s Day, which turned out badly because Isabelle already had a valentine.

She was Clary Fray. She could take rejection.

Seriously.

(Simon may or may not have helped her eat her way through the massive box of chocolates she bought and lamented his own sad love life. Which involved a crush on his highly-unattainable manager Raphael.)

Anyway, Clary soon was friends with all three siblings, which worked out nicely because if she hated one of them, it might be a bit awkward.

‘alecccc. answer me man. i need to know ur thoughts on the new star wars movieeee’

Clary was also a proud double texter. She had no qualms sending multiple messages to people (a habit which she definitely picked up from Luke, her mom’s boyfriend and her future step-dad). And there was somethings which she had to know about her friends. There was only so much Extended Universe Star Wars talk from Simon that she could take and she _knew_ that the Lightwoods went to see it in theatres. Max and Izzy dragged them all to go and so Alec had no reason to not have some thoughts. None.

‘I thought Poe was pretty hot.’

Of all the texts, that wasn’t the one she was expecting.

‘rly?’

‘Yeah. Finn’s pretty good looking too. I think I read somewhere that they’re dating?’

Alec Lightwood was a stormpilot shipper and might have just casually come out to her. That was both super awesome and incredibly humbling.

She remembered coming out as a lesbian to her mom and Luke and Simon when she was 16. Simon had taken it well, of course, and it took her mom and Luke a handful of weeks to adjust. However, the Lightwood family was a different matter altogether. Maryse and Robert Lightwood were Conservatives with relatively powerful political connections and the chances of them taking it well were fairly close to zero.

‘well right now no ones dating in the movie. there r a lot of ppl that agree w ur read on that ship tho’

‘ship?’

So it began.

 

_Stage 4 of friendship: im outside your house and im coming in_

Alec picked up on the second ring. _“Hello?”_

“I’m outside.”

_“What? Clary, I-“_

“Mom and Luke forgot that I was coming home.”

_“… Is that supposed to mean something to me?”_

Sighing, Clary walked up the driveway. “I got sexiled, Alec! My parents are doing it! On the couch!”

Alec hung up. A couple seconds later, the front door opened. Alec (miraculously) was wearing a blue t-shirt and sweatpants and let her in without asking any further questions about her parents. Eugh. Clary wanted to bleach her eyeballs.

“Why didn’t you go to Simon’s?”

Clary shrugged, toeing her shoes off and putting them on the blue wire rack by the coat closet. “I didn’t feel like it. Your place isn’t that much farther.”

Alec just looked at her and then went upstairs. Clary followed.

Alec’s room was much like his personality: no frills. He had dark bedding and nice wooden desk with a wooden chair and a lamp and not much else. His training stuff was downstairs with the rest of the family’s. At first it was a little weird to hang out with a family whose idea of family traditions were hand-to-hand training and Latin, but she got used to it.

“You mentioned something about that guy my mom sells paintings to. The, uh, dancer?”

“Choreographer, and it’s none of your business.” Still, Alec had the beginnings of a smile and was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

“Please, A, I desperately need the distraction. Scarred for life here?”

Alec gave in, telling her about Magnus Bane. He’s lived all over, but has a place in Brooklyn, and knows about everyone in the city. He used to dance, but now only choreographs for a troupe called The Warlocks.

“Calls himself the ‘High Warlock of Brooklyn’. I know, ridiculous, right?”

Clary touched Alec’s shoulder. “I think it’s pretty cute, actually.” She didn’t know that much about him, but she could tell Alec liked him. “You should ask him out.”

“Me? Nah, he’d never go for someone like me. He’s, he’s,” he cast his hands around, looking at the ground and grasping for words, “he’s talented, and kinda famous, and hot, and way out of my league. Besides, uh, I think it’s too risky. You guys have all taken this whole thing pretty well, but…” He didn’t have to finish. “It’s just not for me right now. Maybe never.”

“I don’t want you to give up. On love, or any of the rest of it. And whatever you choose, we’ll all have your back. Even if your taste in shoes is awful, where did you even get those?”

The shoes in question are brown and square and ugly. Clary laughed and Alec rolled his eyes, used to his siblings making fun of his apathy towards fashion. The topic turned towards more light-hearted subjects.

“So, heard you got a thing for my sister.” Jace was a dirty, dirty traitor. “You know she and Meliorn aren’t exclusive, right?”

“Yeah,” Clary said, blowing a puff of air out and laying back, “figured that one out. I don’t know, I’m just chicken. I’ve never been the one to ask someone out.”

“Oh, you got ladies throwing themselves at your feet?”

“Shut up, that’s not what I meant, asshole.” Neither are smiling, but neither are unhappy. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but your sister can be kinda intense. Even if it’s a different kind of intense than you. Or even Jace, really.”

Alec, it turned out, was a shit pep talker. “You know, even if she says no, she thinks you’re alright. Doesn’t hate you or anything.” But he was right. The worst that could happen was that Izzy would give her the pity eyes, call her beautiful, say no, and then they would go back to normal. Izzy, as a proud bisexual polyamorous woman, wasn’t the type to be weirded out by unrequited feelings. And if there was a chance that she’d say yes, wasn’t it worth the risk?

“You’re the best, A.”

“Whatever.”

 

_Stage 5 of friendship: I’m already in your house when are you coming home_

Isabelle had her hair up in this elaborate knobbed braid, a long red pendant around her neck, and promise in her eyes. The venue was laid back, because despite Izzy’s family wealth, they were flying under the radar for now. With Alec talking to Magnus and Jace fighting with Maryse, it wasn’t quite time to rip the wool from the eyes of the parents Lightwood. Clary was still in a little bubble of euphoria.

An actual date. With Izzy. As girlfriends.

Girlfriends.

The word felt light and warm on her tongue, which was patently ridiculous, but still.

Cloud nine was a feeling, and it felt like having Isabelle Lightwood hold her hand.

“So, Clarissa Fray,” Izzy said sweetly, stirring the foam on top of her latte, “I heard you like to paint.”

“Oh, you have?” Both giggled. “I can’t imagine where you heard something like that.”

Isabelle sipped her drink, matte red lipstick not smearing on the ceramic lip. “A little birdy by the name of Simon Lewis. Although he’s less of a bird and more of a Labrador. A very sweet, talkative Labrador.”

“What kind of animal do you think I am?”

“Hmm, let me think…”

Isabelle leaned back and dragged her eyes across the plain of Clary’s face. Clary blushed as Izzy’s gaze lowered to where the table touched her midriff and rose back up to her eyes. They stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like forever but was likely only a few seconds. The tips of Clary’s fingers seemed a tiny bit numb, and her stomach was full of metaphorical butterflies. She was breathless, enchanted, lost in Izzy’s rich brown eyes.

“A dragon.”

This broke the spell. Clary scrunched her nose in confusion. “What?”

Izzy grinned. “You’re a dragon, silly. A small one with quite a bite that breathes fire on all who would harm her family. Almost too good to be true, and rare as diamonds.”

This was about the time Clary Fray realized she was in love.

This was also the time Clary’s phone buzzed. It was from Alec.

“Your brother’s at my house?”

Frowning, Izzy asked, “Which one?”

Turned out that Alec was having a bit of a crisis and let himself in with the spare key to have somewhere to go.

“We should probably join him.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Alec wasn’t exactly a mess when they got to Clary’s apartment. A mess would be someone sobbing out of control, falling apart in the fetal position. Alec was somewhere closer to a tense bundle of nerves ready to snap at any moment. Izzy volunteered to make tea and Clary convinced Alec to sit down and stop pacing a hole through the living room carpet.

“Sorry, I know you were on a date and your mom is at Luke’s but I just-“

“Never apologize for needing me. We,” she pointed between Alec and herself to emphasize, “are best friends. Helping each other is what we do. Now. Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Magnus and Alec were at a bookstore looking for a book on historical figures from some age or another. Both were very interested and passionate about history and so they tended to have disagreements on this historical fact or the other. Since Alec was an actual grandpa, he refused to trust websites and demanded to see a written copy of a book with a trusted source. Magnus and Alec (and that was just beginning to be a thing, like Jace and Alec or Clary and Simon, or Clary and Izzy, the pairing of their names that indicate that they are a package deal. Someday Clary thought she and Alec might have a similar feeling attached to their names) loved being right and they loved debating, so it wasn’t too much of a hassle to go to a store and search.

Unfortunately, someone who was close friends with Alec’s parents saw them together at said store.

“Do you know how much they saw?” Izzy asked, pressing a mug of chamomile into Alec’s fidgeting hands.

Alec shook his head, thanking Izzy and sipping. “I, I panicked and I kind of ditched Magnus without really explaining why.” Usually unflappable, he was visibly anxious and guilty about what happened; his jaw clenched, his leg bounced, his lips pursed. He clutched the mug in his hands like a lifeline.

“I’m sure Magnus will understand. Being in the closet is rough.”

Izzy nodded emphatically while Clary rubbed Alec’s arm.

“I know that logically. But…” Alec sighed, drinking. It seemed to help, if minutely.

Izzy leaned into her brother’s shoulder. He leaned back, setting his head against hers.

“We’re in this together, big brother.”

Clary squeezed Alec’s arm one last time and stood. She thought it might be a good idea to text her mom so she knew what to expect when she came home. And someone had to cook the comfort food; she loved Izzy to death, but the woman couldn’t cook to save her life.

Funny how even the thought of the horrors Izzy could evoke from simple ingredients made her smile.

 

_Stage 6 of Friendship: I’m having dinner with your parents. Are you going to join us_

Of all the places she expected her friendship with Alec to go, this certainly wasn’t one of them.

‘Your mom made Italian. You coming home for dinner?’

Maureen paused in sorting papers. Simon and Clary were helping her pack for college, which unfortunately involved throwing away all the papers she’d forgotten to get rid of from high school. “Who’s that?”

“It’s my friend Alec. Apparently Mom made Italian.”

Maureen went back to sorting papers. The Lightwoods were far from an uncommon topic of conversation. At this point, there wasn’t much about them that surprised her.

Simon came back in with more boxes. “Did he specify the kind of Italian? And, like, how much? Because I love your mom’s cooking, and even if I don’t go to dinner, I call dibs on the leftovers.”

“Hey, uncool, Lewis!” Maureen threw a crumpled up paper at him, which he dodged. “Leftovers should go to the soon-to-be starving college student. You can have the next batch.”

Rolling her eyes at their good-natured play-fighting, Clary answered Alec.

‘uhh sims wants to know how much and what kind’

‘Lasagna. And a lot. You didn’t answer my question.’

“Guys, mom made lasagna, so they’re’ll be plenty for all. No need for strife, young ones.” She winked, smiling at the victory whoop that Maureen let out.

‘sure ill be home. i might have a couple tag a longs’

Maureen’s packing had to be put on pause for lasagna. No friend of Clary’s had ever passed up Jocelyn’s cooking, and she didn’t think anyone ever would.

“So, Alec…” Maureen said with a look that meant she was about to be nosy. Simon and Clary looked at each other knowingly. “I hear you got a special someone. The—what was it, dancer?”

“Choreographer,” Alec and Jocelyn corrected at the same time.

“Spooky,” Simon declared, pointing at both of them with his fork.

“Like twins,” Clary added.

Alec rolled his eyes. “Anyway, yes. I am dating Magnus Bane.” And though everyone had already known it, to hear him say it so explicitly was new. Clary grinned proudly, giving him a little thumbs up from across the table. He pretended to ignore her. “He’s, uh, he’s pretty great.”

“Great, huh?” Luke asked.

“Magic, even,” Clary said. Alec gave her a look. She was sworn to secrecy that he had ever, ever said that about Magnus. He was half asleep and fresh from a date and couldn’t help himself. Still, just the word brightened Alec’s disposition a little.

“How are you and Izzy, Clary?” Alec said, pointedly changing the topic.

“We are excellent. Very gay.”

“Supremely.”

“Extravagantly.”

“Awfully.”

“Exceedingly.”

“Profoundly.”

Luke interrupted Clary and Simon to ask, “Do the two of you just go to thesaurus dot com and memorize pages of adjectives to use to annoy people at the dinner table?”

Grinning widely, they both chorused, “Yep!”

Alec looked like he’d rather be anywhere else, but Clary knew better. After all, he did invite her to eat dinner with her parents in her house. He must’ve wanted her to be there or something.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> come yell about these losers on tumblr w me @ jedifinnrey.tumblr.com


End file.
